This woman assaulted you in a beauty salon?
She just ran towards me, banged my face.
She wouldn't get off of me. She was hitting on me.
All over my body.
And then he locked me inside.
[Judge Judy] He locked you into the salon?
Yes.
[announcer] This is Judy Justice.
[theme music playing]
[announcer] Michelle Pak is suing her hairstylist, Yun Lim,
and the owner of the salon, Soon Lee,
for an assault.
[Kevin] Court come to order.
Be seated, please.
Hello, Judge.
Case number 1141, Pak versus Lim and Lee.
- Thank you. - [Kevin] You're welcome.
[Judge Judy] Miss Pak.
It is your claim the defendant Ms. Lim assaulted you...
- Yes. - [Judge Judy] ...in a beauty salon.
Yes.
You are the owner of the store?
[speaking foreign language]
- Yes. Yes. - Yes.
And you, sir, what is your last name?
My last name is Kim, K-I-M.
[Judge Judy] Mr. Kim, you are an interpreter.
That's correct, Your Honor.
[Judge Judy] Then stand in the middle of them, would you?
Thank you.
Now, how long has Ms. Lim been working for you, sir?
[William speaking foreign language]
[speaking foreign language]
For approximately one year and ten months.
[Judge Judy] Ms. Pak, you had been a client of Ms. Lim's before.
- Yes. - [Judge Judy] For how long?
Three months or so.
What kind of work does she do for you?
A hairstylist.
[Judge Judy] It is your claim that Ms. Lim assaulted you.
Yes.
[Judge Judy] Caused you serious physical injury.
Ms. Lim says that it was you who assaulted her
and she's counterclaiming.
Each one of you is requesting that this court award $10,000 for that assault.
When did this alleged assault take place?
On July 30th, Friday evening.
- [Judge Judy] Of this year? - [Michelle] Yes.
[Judge Judy] You had an appointment with Ms. Lim?
Yes, Your Honor.
- [Judge Judy] What time? - 4:45.
[Judge Judy] You arrived at the location of the salon.
- You had been there at least... - [Michelle] Several times.
[Judge Judy] Several times. Arrived at 4:45.
You had never had any trouble with Ms. Lim before.
Correct.
Now, I'd like you to tell me exactly what happened when you arrived.
[Michelle] Well, when I had arrived, it was actually about 4:50 to be exact.
[Judge Judy] So you arrived a little late?
Yes. I was five minutes late.
However, with the salon, there's--it's clear,
so you could actually look inside the salon.
And she was actually working on a client already at the time.
So, you know, I'm very flexible just because...
[Judge Judy] Don't tell me how flexible you are.
I don't wanna go into any tributaries.
You got there five minutes late.
- Yes. - [Judge Judy] You didn't go in.
- I didn't go in. - [Judge Judy] You went downstairs.
- Yes. - [Judge Judy] That's what you say.
What did you do downstairs?
[Michelle] To get cough drops from the pharmacy.
[Judge Judy] So you went to a store, and you got some cough drops
- or whatever else you bought there. - Cough drops.
[Judge Judy] And you had to pay for them?
- Yes. - How much time did that take?
- One to two minutes? - [Judge Judy] No.
Never one to two minutes.
They close at 4:55.
No place closes 4:55, Ms. Pak.
4:55 is a peculiar time.
I'm...
- [Michelle] They close... - ...old.
Older by the minute.
I never knew a store that closed 4:55.
They close 5:00. That's a possibility.
So you got to your appointment late.
You didn't check in with the defendant.
You went downstairs. You got some cough drops.
What time did you get upstairs?
4:53.
[Judge Judy] And how did you know it was 4:53?
[Michelle] Because the pharmacy, they told me they have to close...
[Judge Judy] Don't tell me what the pharmacy told you.
But it is a fact...
I wanna tell you something, so far,
I'm not following your story like I believe it.
I'm getting a twitch.
So you came late to your appointment.
That's the bottom line.
- You came late to your appointment. - Yes.
[Judge Judy] And when you went upstairs, was the defendant waiting for you?
- [Michelle] No. - [Judge Judy] What was she doing?
She was still working on the client.
[Judge Judy] Okay.
Ms. Lim when Ms. Pak came in,
were you working on another client?
[speaking foreign language]
- No. - [William] No.
What were you doing?
[speaking foreign language]
I was eating, uh, at the table.
Not true.
[Judge Judy] Approximately, what time did Ms. Pak come in for her 4:45 appointment?
[speaking foreign language]
I remember that she came 5:00-- after 5:00.
[Judge Judy] Okay. And you were eating?
- [William speaking foreign language] - Yes.
[Judge Judy] So, you came into the shop around 5:00?
- No. - Yes.
[Judge Judy] Yeah. You came into the shop around 5:00,
whether it was 4:53, 4:54, five to 5:00, 5:00.
She said five after 5:00.
I'm telling you, you got it-- for my purposes, you got there at 5:00.
- Go ahead. - I was here at 4:53.
My mom in heaven watching down upon me...
[tapping on bench]
Just tell me what happened.
I walked in there.
She was still working on the client.
But I patiently waited because, you know, I...
Don't tell me why.
You patiently waited and...
[Michelle] She was still working on a client.
[Judge Judy] And?
And then after she was done with a client,
she demanded me,
she ordered that I wait at the salon 30 minutes
while she go picks up her son.
[Judge Judy] No, tell me what she said to you.
[Michelle] She said, "I have to go pick up my son,
so you have to stay here 30 minutes,"
is the way that she spoke to me.
[Judge Judy] Okay. And what happened next?
[Michelle] I said, "But my appointment was at 4:45."
And she said, "Well, I thought you'd flake."
- [Judge Judy] Okay. And? - [Michelle] Those were her words.
[Judge Judy] Okay. "I thought you'd flake," and then what happened?
[Michelle] And then I was like, "I don't--I never flaked on you."
And she's like, "Yes, you did."
So it was her word against my word.
[Judge Judy] Okay. So just a second.
"I never flaked on you." "Yes, you did." Back and forth.
"I flaked." "I didn't flake."
And then what happened?
Then she went to the table and started eating cup ramen noodles.
When she told me I had to wait for her to go pick up her son.
[Judge Judy] So now--just a second. So now she went over to the table...
- Yes. Started eating. - [Judge Judy] ...and sat down
and started eating noodles.
Yes.
[Judge Judy] So did you walk over to the table?
- [Michelle] No. - [Judge Judy] So were-- you stayed where?
Right in the middle of--of the salon.
[Judge Judy] Okay. So you're in the middle of the salon,
but she left and went to sit at the table to eat her noodles.
[Michelle] Which was like approximately from like here
to like at the end of the stand right there.
[Judge Judy] Okay. That's 10, 15 feet.
Okay. So she's 10 to 15 feet away from you.
What happens next?
- [Michelle] What happened next... - And let's get to this...
I was pulling on the apron to get myself up
'cause she, she wouldn't get off me.
She was hitting me.
She was sitting on me. Like beating me up like this.
From my face all the way to my ribs, everywhere.
All over my body.
And I have pictures to prove it.
And I'm still in pain.
And--and then what happened?
[theme music playing]
[announcer] Michelle Pak claims her hairstylist, Yun Lim,
assaulted her in the salon.
Yun is countersuing, claiming Michelle attacked her first.
What happens next?
- [Michelle] What happened next... - And let's get to this...
[Michelle] ...the salon owner, Mr. Lee, he said,
"Oh, she's been so hungry 'cause she was busy all day long."
- [Judge Judy] So he said to you? - Yes.
[Judge Judy] And how far away from you was Mr. Lee?
He was right behind her.
- [Judge Judy] Was he sitting or standing? - [Michelle] No. Standing.
[Judge Judy] And what happened next?
And then I said, "How could you do this to me?"
I said, "You know, I set up an appointment at 4:45,
and I was patient enough-- the fact that you actually
even were working on another client.
And, you know, I didn't even complain.
And, first of all, you want me to like wait for you for 30 minutes
and then now you're eating?
This is so inappropriate."
- Uh, I was speechless. - [Judge Judy] Well, just--you were, uh--
and you were standing 10 to 15 feet away
from where she was sitting, eating her noodles.
Uh-hmm.
What happened next?
[Michelle] She just ran towards me, banged my face.
And she got on top of me. And she was...
[Judge Judy] Okay. So she got up from the table.
- No. - [Michelle] Yes.
[Judge Judy] She came over to you and started to assault you.
- Yes. - [William speaking foreign language]
- No. - [Michelle] So I was lying on my back.
[Judge Judy] Shh. Just a second.
And you fell on your back?
Yeah. She punched me down and she was beating me up.
[Judge Judy] She was punching you?
[Michelle] She was sitting on me like beating me up.
[Judge Judy] Okay. And?
[Michelle] And I was trying to get myself up because I was on my--on the floor.
And like she--you know, at the salon um aprons?
Like, I was trying to like hold on to it to get myself up because...
[Judge Judy] So you were pulling on her apron...
- Uh-huh. To get myself... - [Judge Judy] ...to get yourself up?
Yeah. 'Cause she wouldn't get off.
So she was on top of you.
You're pulling on her apron to pull yourself up.
But if you're on the ground, and if you're pulling her apron,
you're pulling her towards you.
No. I'm like--I'm trying to get myself up 'cause she's so heavy.
She wouldn't get off of me. I don't know what--I don't fight...
- Keep going. - [Michelle] ...you know? I mean...
- Keep going. - [Michelle] So I was pulling on the apron
to get myself up 'cause she-- she wouldn't get off of me.
She was hitting on me.
And I was lying down like this while she was like--
like with my legs like bent like this.
She was sitting on me like beating me up like this
from my face all the way to my ribs everywhere, all over my body.
And I have pictures to prove it.
And I'm still in pain.
[Judge Judy] And, and then what happened?
[Michelle] And then I was able to finally get--get up,
you know, to call the police, 'cause that's what I'm gonna do.
If someone's gonna assault me, I'm calling the police.
As soon as I tried to call the police--they said 911.
I said yes, and I told them what happened.
And they said, "Where's the location?"
And they said, "What's the suite number?"
And I said, "The second floor.
I don't know the suite number."
And they said, "We need the suite number. We need the suite number."
So I said, "Okay. Okay."
And I was like running and then-- I ran like--
literally, like from here to here.
I ran. And I was trying to pull, and then he actually ran out to the door
so that I couldn't give him the suite number.
Could you go back there?
[Michelle] And I was like trying to like look like this,
and he actually like pulled the door so I couldn't see the suite number.
He pulled it towards--from the outside.
He locked me inside.
He locked me inside of the salon.
[Judge Judy] Just a second. Do you--shh.
So what you're telling me is he ran past you.
- [Michelle] Yes. - [Judge Judy] He ran past you.
[Michelle] He ran.
But before he did that, he told her, "You call 911 too."
[Judge Judy] That's okay.
He got out before you and locked you into the salon.
After he ordered her to call 911.
[Judge Judy] And he told her to call 911.
[Michelle] Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Judy] Okay. And the police came?
Yes, ma'am.
Now, I'd like your version of what happened.
[speaking foreign language]
[Judge Judy] She came in, according to you, 5:05.
You were eating noodles.
[William speaking foreign language]
[speaking foreign language]
I said to Michelle, "You came late."
[Yun speaking foreign language]
And I asked her to briefly wait
because I have to go and pick up my child before 5:30.
[Judge Judy] Okay.
[speaking foreign language]
Uh where my child is at, the preschool, to and from,
it takes altogether like eight to ten minutes.
Okay. So you said you have to wait.
Go ahead. What happened next?
[William speaking foreign language]
[Yun speaking foreign language]
[William] I said, "Since you arrived late
and because it's going to be late,
so if that's too late for you
then you don't have to receive my service today."
And what happened next?
- [William speaking foreign language] - [Yun speaking foreign language]
So in order for me to defend myself, I then pushed her back.
- And? - [Yun speaking foreign language]
Ms. Pak was wearing high heels so she fell backward.
- [speaking foreign language] - [Michelle] I was wearing sandals.
Don't speak!
- [William speaking foreign language] - [Yun speaking foreign language]
[William] And...
[speaking foreign language]
What she doing?
[William] And I was like swaggering like this
- and then I got up and I said to her... - [Judge Judy] Just a second.
Did she fall down and you fell with her?
- [speaking foreign language] - [speaking foreign language]
[Judge Judy] Let the record reflect that the witness is suggesting
that she fell over on top of her
when she pushed her when the plaintiff was holding on to her robe.
- [speaking foreign language] - I fell to my side.
You fell to the side?
- [Yun speaking foreign language] - [William speaking foreign language]
And then what happened?
- [speaking foreign language] - [Judge Judy] Then what happened?
- [speaking foreign language] - [speaking foreign language]
And then Michelle Pak started to yell.
"Oh, my God, she hit me." Like that.
"Oh, my--oh, my God, she hit me."
- [Judge Judy] And then then? - [Yun] Then screaming.
- [William] And screaming. - [Judge Judy] And then what happened?
[speaking foreign language]
And then she call to 911.
And then she called 911.
Okay. At any time did you hit her?
[speaking foreign language]
- [speaking foreign language] - No.
Did she hit you?
[William speaking foreign language]
- [speaking foreign language] - No.
[Judge Judy] No? So you had no marks on you from her?
[speaking foreign language]
[Judge Judy] Yes or no.
- [speaking foreign language] - [Judge Judy] You had no marks.
I have no marks.
- [speaking foreign language] - [Judge Judy] The police...
But then I was slapped after.
Tell me when you were slapped.
[William speaking foreign language]
[speaking foreign language]
[William] Uh we both fell down.
She backward, me forward to my side.
And then once I got up, she was already calling 911.
And when I approached the front door area,
that's the time when she slapped my face.
[Judge Judy] Okay.
At no point do you tell any officer
that you were repeatedly punched in the face,
punched in the body.
What you told them is
that you had a little cut on one of your fingers.
[theme music playing]
[announcer] Michelle Pak is accusing her hairstylist, Yun Lim,
of assaulting her in the salon.
Yun says she was the one who was assaulted.
Now, who's going to show me a police report?
[William speaking foreign language]
[Judge Judy] Okay. The officers observed
a small cut on Miss Pak's right middle finger.
And they said they took a photograph of that,
right here.
This was the photograph that the officer took of your injury.
This is what the officer said.
He said he observed a small cut right here.
That's what he observed.
Now, both parties when the officers responded
did not request any treatment, any transport to any hospital.
You both told stories.
- The story... - I...
- [Judge Judy] What? - I did.
Did you go to the hospital?
- No, but I asked... - [Judge Judy] Just a second.
Did you go to the hospital? Is my question.
- I went to my doctor. - [Judge Judy] Okay.
I would like to see your doctor's record of your visit.
But I want you to notice, Ms. Pak,
that at no time during this police interview
did you report any injury
other than the cut to your finger.
At no point do you tell any officer
who responded to the scene that you were repeatedly,
as you told me, punched in the face, punched in the body.
At no point, when the police arrived, do you tell them that.
What you told them is,
and the police said we took a photograph of it,
that you had a little cut on one of your fingers.
I'm just telling you that that's what it says.
Because I was wearing yoga pants and I still have mark on my...
- I'm just--excuse me. - ...knee.
It also has a photograph of what looks like you?
- [Michelle] Yes. - [Judge Judy] And the police took this?
- Yes. - [Judge Judy] As soon as they arrived?
- Yes. - [Judge Judy] What is that a picture of?
Is that an arm or a leg?
I can't tell what that's a picture of.
Excuse me.
Show it her.
And give me those.
I wanna look at them now.
Okay.
That's my knee that I'm still having problems with.
[Judge Judy] This happened on July 30th.
This says reason for the appointment on August 2nd.
Patient was assaulted on Saturday and having other problems.
And there's a follow-up on August 24th for another appointment.
(chuckles) Look, always get down to it.
This is on August 24th.
What's the name of the lawyer that you contacted?
Robert [...].
[Judge Judy] And on what date did you contact Robert [...]?
On July 30th.
How do you know him?
[Michelle] I've known him for 15 years.
[Judge Judy] So you called a friend of yours who's a lawyer
and he told you to get in touch with a doctor.
Well, I made my own decision to consult my doctor.
[Judge Judy] You called him--you called him--no.
Patient has already been in conversation with a lawyer.
Damage seems more psychological
and mental trauma than physical.
And it goes into a lot of other things that I don't think
I have to go into now at this point.
And they deal with psychological things rather than physical things
that your doctor is referring to.
[William speaking foreign language]
Okay. Do you have any medical reports that you want me to look at?
The X-ray because, uh...
[Judge Judy] Just a second you went for an X-ray on September 21st.
- X-ray the right knee. - Yes.
And then I spoke with my doctor.
[Judge Judy] Don't tell me what you spoke to your doctor about.
You had an X-ray months later
that showed nothing.
I called to make the appointment for the X-ray.
All right.
- We're done here. - When I was trying...
[Judge Judy] Did you--I'm done.
[William speaking foreign language]
Did you seek any medical treatment as a result of being slapped?
[speaking foreign language]
- [speaking foreign language] - No.
And other than these notes that you gave me from your doctor
who was treating you for a variety of problems,
do you have any other medical records for me to look at?
Yes.
What other medical records do you have for me to look at?
- I have photos which are... - [Judge Judy] No. Not interested.
Medical records.
I saw the police report.
I saw the doctor's notes.
Now I wanna see medical records.
If you have none, I'm ready to rule.
Just the recent conversation with my doctor two days ago...
- Very good. - [Michelle] ...for MRI.
Your claim is dismissed.
Your counterclaim is dismissed.
We're finished here.
- Thank you very much. - [Kevin] Court is adjourned.
So traumatic.
I've never even seen this--I mean...
[speaking foreign language]
I wish that the lady
no longer have those kind of behaviors
and aggressive actions against anyone.
I grew up in Georgia to people with manners.
[speaking foreign language]
Because of her I was once arrested at the scene.
Never in my life had a style--
hairstylist attack me.
[speaking foreign language]
So I was being wrongfully accused of this.
Beside the fact that they tagged teamed on me,
what I'm upset about is that fact that they lied to the police.
[speaking foreign language]
The police officer said that we can, on our own, individually
file a report against each other.
Never ever go again.
And I wanna tell everyone never to go to Juno Hair.
[speaking foreign language]
I'd like to thank this court for this.
You remember Criminal Law. An assault is
- when they have physical injury. - Uh-hmm.
And it can't be just a little cut in here.
Where that came from.
Certainly from what the plaintiff was describing,
she would have been battered and bruised.
- [Sarah] Yeah. - She was hit on the face.
- Black eye. - [Judge Judy] Because on the law,
in order to establish an assault,
as an unlawful touching that causes physical...
- Serious bodily injury. - [Judge Judy] ...injury,
and neither one of them sustained it.
- The plaintiff, I think, was late. - Uh-hmm.
[Judge Judy] Probably by 15 or 20 minutes.
Actually, the answer said that that was her usual course of conduct.
- Uh-hmm. - [Judge Judy] She came late.
And the owner of the shop said
she's just eating 'cause she was so busy all day today.
- Yeah. - That's why she was sitting down
and eating noodles.
The whole thing was very unfortunate.
- It's not worth a case. - [Sarah] Yeah.
Which is why her lawyer friend of 15 years didn't pursue it.
- Uh-hmm. - [Judge Judy] So on the law,
unless there is some physical injury that's a real physical injury,
you don't have an assault.
- You had a nasty kerfuffle. - Yeah.
[Judge Judy] And she'll have to find another hairdresser, (chuckles)
which is probably the worst thing that's gonna come out of this case.
Yeah. Well...
[announcer] Want justice?
Go to JudyJustice.tv.
[theme music playing]